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On the March: Pomp, Circumstance and Dam Busters

Tom Service on musical marches.

The musical and military features of the march seem pretty unpromising terrain for composers - you’ve got to constrain your creativity to two-time, easy to remember tunes that keep pace in strict time.

And yet the form of the march allows for more creativity than those strictures might suggest. Tom falls in with composers including Elgar, Coates, Sousa, Strauss, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven to discover how the march can beat the drum for many different ideas and emotions.

With historian, Prof Simon Heffer.

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Fri 27 Jan 2023 16:30
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Claude‐Joseph Rouget de l’Isle

    La Marseillaise

    Performer: Marcel Vanaud. Performer: Toulouse Capitole Chorus. Performer: Toulouse Capitole Orchestra. Conductor: Michel Plasson.
    • EMI.
    • 562560-2.

  • Henry Purcell

    March and canzona [from 'Queen Mary's funeral music'] Z.860 for trumpets & trombones

    Performer: Baroque Brass of London.
    • EMI.
    • CDC 7 477722.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Saul - oratorio in 3 acts

    Performer: London Early Opera. Performer: Bridget Cunningham.
    • SIGNUM.
    • SIGCD 428.

  • Eric Coates

    The Dam busters - march

    Performer: ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Philharmonic. Conductor: Rumon Gamba.
    • CHANDOS.
    • 241-28.

  • THE BRITISH GRENADIERS & The Band of the Coldstream Guards

    TRADITIONAL/J A KAPPEY: March

    • Parlophone UK.
    • 5099930602755.

  • Pipers from the 1st Battalion Scots Guards & The Band of Her Majesty's Scots Guards

    TRADITIONAL arr. HOWE: Scotland The Brave

    • BGS PRODUCTIONS LTD.
    • CDITV661.

  • Traditional

    TRADITIONAL: Arena

    Performer: Synaulia.
    • AMIATA RECORDS.
    • 888003424968.

  • Robert Browne Hall

    ROBERT BROWNE HALL: Death or glory - march for brass band

    Performer: US Army Brass Band. Performer: Major Beth T. M. Steele.
    • ALTISSIMO.
    • 754422613927.

  • Johann Strauss

    Radetzky-Marsch - original version Op.228

    Performer: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Carlos Kleiber.
    • SONY CLASSICAL.
    • S2K 45564.

  • John Philip Sousa

    Semper fidelis - march

    Performer: United States Marine Band.
    • ARTS PRODUCTIONS LTD.
    • 829410848459.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 3 in E flat major Op.55 (Eroica)

    Performer: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • HYPERION.
    • CDS-44301/5.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Performer: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • HYPERION.
    • CDS-44301/5.

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Symphony no. 6 in B minor Op.74 (Pathetique)

    Performer: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andris Nelsons.
    • ORFEO.
    • C832101A.

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Symphony no. 6 in B minor Op.74 (Pathetique)

    Performer: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andris Nelsons.
    • ORFEO.
    • C832101A.

  • Edward Elgar

    Pomp and circumstance marches Op.39

    Performer: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.
    • ONYX.
    • 4206.

  • Eric Coates

    The Dam busters - march

    Performer: ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Philharmonic. Conductor: Rumon Gamba.
    • CHANDOS.
    • CHAN 9869.

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Symphony no. 10 in E minor Op.93

    Performer: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.
    • Naxos.
    • 8.572461.

  • Edward Elgar

    Coronation march Op.65

    Performer: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: George Hurst.
    • NAXOS.
    • 8.553564.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 22 Jan 2023 17:00
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
  • Fri 27 Jan 2023 16:30
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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